In Honor of My Mom!

Patti -on Left (Asst. Director), Mom -on Right

About 3 weeks ago my mom's middle school orchestra had the honor of playing at KMEA. Her orchestra had been chosen to play at the Music Educator's Conference - which is a really big deal! Basically, they were playing for a lot of music educators who... really know music! First, a little background: My mom has been teaching music for 24 years, 21 of them at this middle school. When she started at the school there were 13 orchestra students. Now there are over 100! I took a personal day off of work and my family drove up to the concert. It was so nice to be able to take the day off and go hear the concert and support my mom. I'm thankful I was able to do that. My grandparents, aunt, and a family friend were all there too. (Cara's family couldn't make it because of her new job but they were there in spirit!) The orchestra had worked very hard on their music. We arrived early and listened to them warm-up. Now, I hadn't heard my mom's orchestra in a few years and - whoa - I was blown away! During the warm-up! The music sounded fantastic. During the actual concert I was again amazed. I had goose bumps at different times because the music was SO good. That is a sign of a REALLY good concert!! Plus the music was great! The songs played included: Moonlight Express, El Diablo Azul (arranged by my dad!), The Evil Eye and the Hideous Heart, The Best of Queen, and Dance of the Tumblers from "Snow Maiden". Great music selections, excellent sound by the musicians, and classy conducting by my mom!

Mom conducting the first piece of the concert.

Frozen Yogurt

Grandma & her boys

Terry and my mom

I had strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt. I added the pink strawberry beads? Not sure what they were called. They burst in your mouth. Pretty cool! Check out the spoon - it's like a shovel!

Tyler had cookies and cream with a few crushed oreos on top.

Silas enjoying his treat!

Yesterday the boys and I met my mom, Terry, and Silas for frozen yogurt. The boys had a great time trying a sample, picking their flavor and adding a topping. This place is so cool! They have 16 flavors of frozen yogurt and tons of toppings.

Snowball Quilt

" Made Especially for you by Gamma"

My mom has been making quilts for her grandchildren. Wilson received his quilt about a month ago and is very excited about it! He loves it so much. I helped pick out the material with my mom last year for both Wilson and Luke's quilts. Luke will have his own snowball quilt that has some of the same fabrics and coordinates with Wilson's. My mom has started cutting the MANY pieces it takes to make a snowball quilt. She didn't quite know what she was getting into when she picked this design! I am amazed that she has this kind of talent and can sew and quilt! I defintely don't have that talent! Thank you mom, the quilt is beautiful!

Girl's Lunch!

Me, my mom, and my sister went to lunch at the Glitz today. It was so fun! We rarely have the opportunity to be together without children! We had lots of time to talk and all enjoyed our food. We all had a spinach/marinara/phyllo turnover for the appetizer. Then for main entree Cara and I had the Turkey Crepes and mom had the Beef Stew. This came with a small salad as well. Then for dessert we each chose something different. My mom chose banana pudding, Cara got the meringue with jamocha icecream, and I chose the berry sorbet seen below. It was very good and we were stuffed. Then we walked around for a few minutes looking at the antiques. It was a great afternoon! Thanks, mom!

It was so pretty I had to take a picture!

Mother's Day Picture

Me, Mom, and Cara on Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! We celebrated Friday night as a family. I chose to eat at Red Robin since we'd never tried been there. It was fun! Then we went to Lowe's and picked out a new stove and hood. On Saturday Andy installed the new stove and hood and I used it to make dinner- chicken enchiladas. I'll have to share that recipe -it's one of our favorites. I love the new stove! I've been wanting a new stove for a couple years. I finally have a smooth top stove! Last night I was reading the owner's manual in bed to learn how to take care of the top. Today I made oven roasted veggies for our mother's day cookout at my sister's and muffins for my mom. So I've definitely broken it in this weekend. We had a great evening at Cara and Jason's and a delicious dinner. Andy just did all of bathtime with the big boys so I got a night off from helping with that. It's been a nice mother's day! Here is a picture of my new stove. I owe Andy some chocolate chip cookies for installing this now!!

My Momma

My mom had surgery yesterday on her knee. She had a tear in her meniscus. My mom is a trooper! She squeezed this in after keeping the girls for the two weeks Cara and Jason were in China. She had the girls until 10:30 Wednesday night, went to the airport with them to meet Silas, woke up bright and early on Thursday to clean her house from keeping the girls and at 8 AM that morning went to her surgery appointment. Meanwhile my dad was getting ready to drive Cara & Co. to Minneapolis for Jason's sister's wedding this weekend. We wanted them to arrive safely to MN after 24+ hours of travelling home from China. So mom was flying solo. Her parents took her to her surgery and brought her home and took care of her. I came over when they got home to visit and check on her. Then Terry came over and spent the night with her so she could have help. Terry and Ma-Maw were with her today at home. My dad flies home tonight, leaving Cara & Co. at the wedding. We're hoping they'll be enough rested to make the trip home on their own on Sun/Mon! I went over to visit today and am bringing dinner to her, dad, and Terry tonight. (Chicken Quesadillas, corn on the cob, and chips/salsa). Mom is doing really well- she is able to walk around carefully with her crutches, putting just a little weight on the bad leg. She even walked out of the house yesterday to take a ride in the new van! She is exercising her leg per dr. orders and icing it as well. Hopefully this will repair her knee so she doesn't have so much trouble with it anymore! Love you, mom!

Thank Goodness for Grandmas!

Wow, what a day! Wilson woke up way too early for a Saturday and was in a MOOD. We had hours until we were supposed to be at Madelyn's 10am soccer game and Andy was already off to be ready for the youth yardsale. Wilson was getting very angry at his toys for not doing what he wanted them to do. He was also getting upset with Luke for no reason. No matter what I said to him he just wouldn't calm down. So, what did I do? Called my mom!

Me: Hey mom, what are you doing today?
Mom: Going to Madelyn's game, grocery, and watching the game tonight.
Me: So Wilson is needing a little Gramma time, he is in a MOOD!
Mom: Well he can come home with me after the game for a while. We'll go to my school and play the drums.
*** a few hours into the visit with Grandma**
Mom: Hey, just checking in. Didn't want you to worry. We've been busy. Wilson's just not ready to come home yet.
Me: Ok! Sure, 6:15 is fine!

Wilson went home with Grandma and Grandpa and had a GREAT day! They went to mom's school so he could play the drums, he shopped at the school's book fair and got lots of attention. They read, watched a movie, and cooked. She called to check in a couple times and kept telling me "he's not ready to come home yet." So he didn't come back home until 6:30, just in time for dinner. He was a wonderful boy at Grandma's with a good attitude. As soon as he got home he was back to acting the way he did this morning. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to take a bath. He screamed throughout the whole bath as Andy and I held him down and washed him. He was soo tired. And we had him in bed at 8pm. Hopefully after a good nights sleep he'll be in a better mood. It was a rough day and he was gone for the whole middle chunk of the day!

While he was gone I crashed during Luke's nap. I knew I was tired but I didn't realize how tired. Then after the update of "he's still not ready to come home, he's being so good and helpful (!)" I decided I needed to get some work done. So the house is straightened, the laundry is started, the sheets are changed, the dishes are washed, etc. Clean house, rested mama, and Wilson had a super time getting some much needed grandparent lovin'. Now, when do they start spending the night at Grandma's??!!